Easy way to safely access backup power for home and free (for some PG&E customers)

[tls]

​

​

Is there a safety issue? The truck circuitry is still protected by its built in GFIC and the house is presumably protected by its own circuitry. The truck maintains its own ground as does the house. Is an ungrounded cable an issue when both ends have their own (though different) grounds? Hmmmm.​

The truck end doesn't have a ground, really. The tires are very good insulators. But the truck end has a GFCI, which I suppose would trip if you shorted line to ground through your body while plugging in the cable - because the line and neutral current would be unbalanced, and that's how GFCI's work.

That suggests to me that code to the contrary notwithstanding, a cable like this that simply does not connect ground between the truck and the house is a safe way to work around the issue with transfer switches and bonded neutral, in general. It's just that you - or the electrician who installs a transfer switch or generator inlet for you "behind the meter" - are subject to code and so you are not supposed to do this; but on the utility's side of the demarcation point, NEC does not apply, so they can let you do it there!

There are people here who know a lot more about this than I do. Does the above seem right?

Sponsored

 

[Maquis]

But the truck end has a GFCI, which I suppose would trip if you shorted line to ground through your body while plugging in the cable

I don’t think anybody in their right mind would switch on ProPower before connecting the cable at both ends.

 

[GDN]

Simple steps I wrote up and added to my electrical panel documentation - adopt as necessary.

 

[dmd3home]

Of course the truck doesn't have a "ground" ground....if you know what I mean, but I assume the truck frame is a ground for for the pro power electrical circuitry on the truck (and the 12v too, I guess).
As for the GFI protection, I'm not a "professional", but yes, with 120v circuitry it is looking for any difference between the hot and neutral current flow....showing that some current flow is "lost" somewhere. But with 220v it must be looking at L1 and L2 detecting any difference in current flow between these two hot legs (no neutral involved). A ground wouldn't even necessarily enter in on either GFI circuitry (though there will always be a connected available ground as with any proper electrical circuit). The "generator" cord supplied by PG&E is 220V only.

Again, I'm just very pleased it works!!!!

 

[Maquis]

Of course the truck doesn't have a "ground" ground....if you know what I mean, but I assume the truck frame is a ground for for the pro power electrical circuitry on the truck (and the 12v too, I guess).
As for the GFI protection, I'm not a "professional", but yes, with 120v circuitry it is looking for any difference between the hot and neutral current flow....showing that some current flow is "lost" somewhere. But with 220v it must be looking at L1 and L2 detecting any difference in current flow between these two hot legs (no neutral involved). A ground wouldn't even necessarily enter in on either GFI circuitry (though there will always be a connected available ground as with any proper electrical circuit). The "generator" cord supplied by PG&E is 220V only.

Again, I'm just very pleased it works!!!!

On a 240V, 3 wire circuit, GFCI protection monitors all 3 conductors (L1, N, L2). If the vector sum of all 3 is more than 6mA, it must trip. If the sum is 3mA or less, it cannot trip.

If the cord was “220 only”, you would not be able to properly power 120V loads in your home.

 

[YellowGoat]

Just got this installed on our house last week. The PG&E person just randomly showed up after I'd applied for it back in April or something. No contact at all prior. No scheduling, phone calls, emails, nothing. I'm NOT in what they labeled a fire zone so I'd just given up and figured they'd ignored my application. In the application I did not see Ford Lightning so I just picked a Ford generator they had listed with about the same output as the truck. Installers didn't seem to care.

Certainly not plug and play. Instructions state to turn off pretty much all your main panel breakers (Main, AC, solar, pool etc), plug in, power truck, then turn just your main back on. Not overly complicated, but not something my wife would feel comfortable doing.

Cable provided indeed does not fit into the outlet in the bed of the truck since it has a comically large molding around the plug that interferes with the outlet cover in the truck. Ordered the aforementioned extension cord.

Haven't tested it yet since we haven't had a power outage. Even PG&E said they could not test it since that would require taking out power to the whole neighborhood (I told 'em I was fine with that but they just laughed ). I'll make an update if anything breaks / catches fire when I get a chance to try.

This certainly saves me the headache of having a generator port installed and I'd been waiting (a year now) to install the Charge Station Pro to see if I'd need to. (I've managed to go a year just charging it off a 110 in the garage with DCFC top off once or twice a month which surprised me and is probably a topic for a whole 'nother post.)

Anyways, point being, if you apply for one and don't hear anything, they're probably just taking their sweet time. And don't fret about the fire zone req or listing a generator. That doesn't seem to disqualify you.

 

[Wsh68]

Just got this installed on our house last week. The PG&E person just randomly showed up after I'd applied for it back in April or something. No contact at all prior. No scheduling, phone calls, emails, nothing. I'm NOT in what they labeled a fire zone so I'd just given up and figured they'd ignored my application. In the application I did not see Ford Lightning so I just picked a Ford generator they had listed with about the same output as the truck. Installers didn't seem to care.

Certainly not plug and play. Instructions state to turn off pretty much all your main panel breakers (Main, AC, solar, pool etc), plug in, power truck, then turn just your main back on. Not overly complicated, but not something my wife would feel comfortable doing.

Cable provided indeed does not fit into the outlet in the bed of the truck since it has a comically large molding around the plug that interferes with the outlet cover in the truck. Ordered the aforementioned extension cord.

Haven't tested it yet since we haven't had a power outage. Even PG&E said they could not test it since that would require taking out power to the whole neighborhood (I told 'em I was fine with that but they just laughed ). I'll make an update if anything breaks / catches fire when I get a chance to try.

This certainly saves me the headache of having a generator port installed and I'd been waiting (a year now) to install the Charge Station Pro to see if I'd need to. (I've managed to go a year just charging it off a 110 in the garage with DCFC top off once or twice a month which surprised me and is probably a topic for a whole 'nother post.)

Anyways, point being, if you apply for one and don't hear anything, they're probably just taking their sweet time. And don't fret about the fire zone req or listing a generator. That doesn't seem to disqualify you.

Glad to see another one of us finding solutions and our trucks. I was explaining this all to my Brother in law tonight as he is looking for a decent solution to backup power during fire outages in the Sierra foothills.

 

[Iroc34a]

​

OK, here's the back up power cable supplied by PG&E....it has a standard twist-loc plug for connecting to the Lightning and, what I assume is a standard generator input connector on the other end. Yes, there are four conductors at each end of the cable....L,N,L, and ground. I checked continuity through the cable for each conductor and found that YES, as was speculated by some, the ground conductor DOES NOT PASS THROUGH THE CABLE FROM THE LIGHTNING TO THE METER CONNECTOR. There is actually just L-N-L making the connection....no ground! And yes, as this connects right to the meter, upstream from your main breaker and panel, no ground is required.This must be why it's working with no GFIC tripping problems. It just works!​

Is there a safety issue? The truck circuitry is still protected by its built in GFIC and the house is presumably protected by its own circuitry. The truck maintains its own ground as does the house. Is an ungrounded cable an issue when both ends have their own (though different) grounds? Hmmmm.​

I'm guessing that PG&E, being a large electric utility, has thoroughly looked at this. I'm just pleased that it works and is a great and easy solution to what I thought was going to be a difficult problem. Thank you PG&E.​

So , I am thinking that if this cable fits into the Generlink, it should work?

 

[Iroc34a]

Well from what I gathered; this cord will not fit the Generlink. Lock is different. So, I sent an email to TESCO about how to go about purchasing their BPTM. Maybe my electric company in Southern Illinois, which has approved the Generlink will allow the TESCO model? We shall see, hopefully a positive response. Ill update as soon as I hear anything.

 

[Big guy]

Well from what I gathered; this cord will not fit the Generlink. Lock is different. So, I sent an email to TESCO about how to go about purchasing their BPTM. Maybe my electric company in Southern Illinois, which has approved the Generlink will allow the TESCO model? We shall see, hopefully a positive response. Ill update as soon as I hear anything.

Has anyone confirmed which company is making the PGE unit (model) so we can try to source it for our Homes not using PGE somewhere else in the country.

 

[Iroc34a]

Has anyone confirmed which company is making the PGE unit (model) so we can try to source it for our Homes not using PGE somewhere else in the country.

From what I have seen . Tesco

https://www.tescometering.com/wp-co...Grid-and-Back-Up-Power_Tom-Lawton-6-11-24.pdf

 

[Big guy]

From what I have seen . Tesco

https://www.tescometering.com/wp-co...Grid-and-Back-Up-Power_Tom-Lawton-6-11-24.pdf

Terrific info. I never saw this before. I will need to contact Teso and my local power company. This is
obviously the best solution to use our Lightnings during power outages. Thanks for posting this.

 

[Iroc34a]

Well, so far haven't heard from Tesco.
But PG&E emailed me and said . No extra meters for sale. Only have enough for California residents in Fire Zones. Now trying to backdoor them . Reached out to my electric company too see if they can buy them through Tesco. So far no Bueno.

 

[Iroc34a]

Latest update. Haven't heard anything from TESCO, now my Electric company is telling me this style Transfer switch is NOT approved? So back to the drawing board. Thought this was going to be easy!

 

[Mach Turtle]

One more PG&E success story: The power is out today in our neighborhood. The truck is on the job. After 10 minutes of plugging and poking at menus, it's as if power had never gone out.

Here's a big thank you to Ford (especially for the update that allows power to remain on with the truck off), PG&E's front line personnel including the dude who showed up randomly on a Saturday to install the transfer switch, and all the posters in this thread who have explained how to get things going, especially @Wsh68 for getting it started.

Sponsored